Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We have resource personnel, who are the legal people, if you will, and we are supported by them at both the developmental and the operational levels. So if a question arises from a legal point of view—legalities of environment, legalities of law-making, or how one goes about that—we are assisted by the professional legal people, who will answer those questions.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  If I may, Mr. Chair, I just want to make sure it's clear that there are 37 operational.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, honourable members of the committee. My name is Robert Louie. I'm chief of the Westbank First Nation and chairman of the Lands Advisory Board. It's always a pleasure to be before you, and I'm very honoured and thank you for this opportunity for me and our group here.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'd be honoured to answer that question, Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much. The example I gave you at our meeting in my community of Westbank was this. In the early 1990s we had a construction company called WIBCO Construction and we built it up to $20 million worth of bonding.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That's a very important question. I'm glad you raised it. Using my community as an example, what we have right now with land codes is the opportunity to build things. We are now involved in things like building shopping centres. In answer to Ms. Duncan's question about what we are actually doing in development and what sorts of benefits there are, we're the ones actually doing the developing.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, if I may, I know this is a very important question: who is doing actual development and who is benefiting? If you'd allow us each to respond, I think it's very significant and helps explain why it's so important.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I wish to comment on your trip to Westbank and the growth. I was first elected as a councillor in 1974. It was my first experience in the political realm. We operated out of a 28-foot trailer, no more than eight feet wide. We had enough money to have one secretary. Nothing else was paid, not our chief, not our councillors.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Rafferty, for your question. I used the term “new relationships” in my presentation. The new relationships, I believe, are very real. Relationships to me, in the understanding we have as first nations who are exercising land management authorities and jurisdiction, are something that builds upon our relationships with governments and municipalities.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much. Maybe I can use terms in this sense. Under the Indian Act you have a “delegated authority” opportunity, and “delegated” very simply means that the decision-maker is not the first nation community but the government. It's the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development: it's whoever is at the regional director level in the province, whoever is the deputy minister who sits here in Ottawa, or the Indian agents who have sometimes been referred to over the past history.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, we do.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  A simple answer is yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  If the government agreed as a signatory with us to add further financial support and to allow us to give the opportunity to first nations on the waiting list, that is very much the essence of what's needed. I realize we are in tough times. I realize there are costs and analyses of those costs.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I appreciate your question, Mr. Wilks. Thank you very much. It is a stepping stone. The advantage of going through this incremental form of self-government with land management provides the first nation with the opportunity to get its feet wet, so to speak, to say that it now has the experience.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, definitely. There are those that are even willing to fund it themselves. Let me give you the one example I know personally. The Buffalo Point First Nation in the southeastern part of Manitoba has made it very clear, their community has made it very clear, that they want the authority recognized.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Well, actually 36 have passed land codes to date, and there are several that are going to be voting. Musqueam, for example, is scheduled in December.